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ADDRESS 

OF 

LIEUT. (lEO. M. WHEELER, 

U. S. CORPS OF ENGINEERS, 

DECEMBER 23, /8M, 

BKFOKE THH: 

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 



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'"^'Sl9ot 



ADDRESS 

OF 

LIEUT. GEO. M. WHEELER, 

IT, 8. Corps of Engineers, 
DECEMBER 23, 1874, 



BEFORE THE 



AMEEIOAI^ GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Pkesident, Fellows of the Geographical Society, Ladies 
AND Gentlemen : 

It afiords me great pleasure to appear before you, in response 
to a call from your Committee, for the purpose of narrating fea- 
tures connected with the expedition that has been entrusted to 
my charge, during the few past years, and I hope to be able to 
speak succinctly of a few of the great number of important 
questions entering into the subject of geographical inquiry, now 
being carried on in the immense territory of the United States 
west of the Mississippi River. 

I have no need to tell a critical assemblage like this that for the 
first time I am placed upon the stage to attempt to instructively 
entertain an appreciative audience. I cannot expect, and 
hope thai: you do not, that I shall meet the requirements ot 
tlie trained and eloquent speaker ; but if you will bear patiently 
with me, I shall attempt to portray, in addition to some scenes 
and incidents, and professional results of one of our field seasons, 
a brief resume of what has been done in this comprehensive field 
heretofore, and in addition thereto, treat of a few of the promi- 
nent and pertinent points of the relations that interior surveys 
bear towards the Government. 

CONDENSED HISTORICAL RESUME OF EARLY EXPLORATION, 

As is well known by most of those present, shortly after the 
commencement of the present century, and but a little subsequent 
to the establishment of our independence, the United States hav- 
ing acquired what was knoAvn as the "Louisiana purchase," 
President Jeiferson, then Chief Magistrate, was the first to con- 
ceive of the necessity of sending to this j:»ortion of the continent, 
organized parties to examine into the pui'chase, and to find out 



Mhat the Government had secured. At this tune the expedition 
headed by Lewis and Clarke was organized :. the former a nephew 
of, and military Secretary to, the President ; the latter, an officer 
in the army. The inception of this work has not merely signalized 
the wonderful intuitive power that has been accredited to Jeffer- 
son, but shows at this early day the value attached to systematic 
Governmental support. 

With all the facilities at this time available, this, one of the 
most prominent expeditions of the first quarter of the 19th cen- 
tury, staited out to pierce the northwestern interior. This was the 
first well authenticated and well equipped expedition that had 
for its mission an inquiry into the extent and resources, then 
comparatively unknown, of this great and almost continental area. 
It is true that at an earlier period, in our southwestern territory, 
the trips of the early Jesuit missionaries following the expedition 
for the conquest under Cortes, and later parties, sent out under 
the sanction of the government of New Spain, both inland and 
coast-wise, had their origin and results much in advance of the 
historical epochs of the colonial, state and territorial indepen- 
dencies of the government of the United States, But their 
results were comparatively of little avail in bringing to light 
facts and deductions susceptible of being drawn from these great 
areas. 

Dwelling with so much significance upon this individual eftbrt 
in the threading of interior spaces has not been done with a view 
to pass encoiuium upon one more than any other expedition, upon 
one more than any other individual, but to draw your attention 
to an epoch in history which it has been my pleasure to see so 
■distinctively noted within the last i'ew years. Later, Lieut, Pike, 
afterward General Pike, killed in the war of 1812-14, headed an 
expedition extending over a period of three years, first in and 
about the head waters of the Mississippi, and afterward to our 
south-western boundary, then limited by the Arkansas, and, 
from a misapprehension of geographical boundaries, having passed 
beyond the limit of what was then the possessions of this country, 
found himself and party upon the western borders of the Rio 
Grande. Stockading himself against the Indians, he found but 
too soon that another people were more his enemies, and here he 
was taken prisoner by the Mexican authorities in 1807. 

It has been our good fortune during the past season to ascertain 
the fact, that at the junction of the San Antonio and Conejos 
creeks in the southwestern part of Colorado, remains the remnants 
of a stockade, marking the spot where this occurred. Other 
evidence was accumulated, showing that his parties crossed the 
Sangre de Cristo Pass, AH the results of that important expe- 
dition never reached the archives of the Government, and to-day 



they lie hi the i'ecords of old Mexico, or wltti the priests of tlie 
inland Territory. 

After the war of I812-'l45 the country havina: reached a sta^e 
of coin2:)arative quiet, explorations again resumed a magnitude 
not known before. In the years ISIO-'SO, after the organization 
of the Corps of Topographical Engineeis, whose labors in this 
field are well known, Major Long started in 1819 from the AUe- 
ghanies. The results of this expedition, in view of the improved 
instruments and methods, and the fjiciUties that could be placed 
at his command, were much in advance of what had been ac- 
complished before, and the majjs of routes then made were of 
great importance to the Government and frequently consulted. 

But little was done after this expedition until the time of 
Bonneville in 1832-'3-'4 '5 and '6, who, following out the endeavor 
to explore lines leading into the then inaccessible portions of the 
interior, was absent so long from his command as to be dropped 
from tlie rolls of the army. However, his journal, notes, plats, 
tfec, when received and compiled, added largely to the stock of 
geographical knowledge relating to this portion of the public 
domain. 

Again an interval, and we find in 1842 that the then Lieut. 
P'remont of the Corps of Topographical EngincLi-s, liavinp^ been 
assigned by President Tyler to command one of the most im- 
portant expeditions into the interior of the country west of the 
Missouri River, started from St. Louis, another instance where 
a President of the United States was impressed with the grave 
importance of a correct knowledge of our immense western pos- 
sessions, that embrace some of the most important areas of 
drainage in the world. The parties of this expedition were en- 
gaged in field and office operations until the close of the season of 
1845. 

The importance attached to the results obtained and their effect 
when utiUzed, upon the line of march of emigration toward the 
west has become a matter of history more fixed in the minds of 
those, who have traversed the regions beyond the Alleghanies. 

Li speaking of the West it is well to draw attention to the fact 
that the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers marked the geographical 
limit of the Great West at this period, a line of easy transit, 
strangely enough, acting as a barrier to civilization, still beyond it 
little authentic was known. How well has been proven since that 
time that one of the powers that rule the world (hard money) has 
attracted mtiltitudes to the shores and slopes of the Pacific. After 
the discovery of gold in California there was established a steam- 
ship line between New York and San Francisco ; subsequently 
a telegraph line, and later still the Pacific Railroad became an 
acknowledged fact — each forced to completion from the necessi- 
ties of the Government and the demands of inter-commerce. 



llowever since tlie early days of Exploration and Sun^ey tlie 
boundaries of our western domain liave passed throuo;h successive 
changes. 

For a correct understanding of these changes I Avould refer 
you to one of the maps of the Statistical Atlas of the United States, 
recently compiled under the direction of Prof F. A. Walker, of 
the Census Bureau, that relates to the acquisition of territory in 
the United States, and its subsequent distribution into Political 
Divisions. 

This expedition (Fremont's) was followed by others all of more 
or less importance, and especially so since by them was proven 
the necessity for the organization of parties to obtain information 
for the Government in this vast inland interior. To carry out 
such a policy, from the year 1846-7 until 1852, expeditions tor 
the Pacific Railroad surveys, and others, were sent out mostly 
under the auspices of the War Department. JMany of the names 
of the heads of these expeditions are familiar to you all. 

The former were sent out at the instance of the Secretary of 
War, to investigate routes of travel to the Pacific, a subject ex- 
citing public attention at that time. Wiih matured plans, methods 
of observation and investigation, with a personnel selected by 
the Departments and Bureaus, several well organized expeditions 
took the field, and every one knows more or less of the results of 
the Pacific 1\. R. surveys. Stores of useful knowledge accumu- 
late so rapidly in this country, and still there remains so much 
to be learned, that it almost seems amiss to ask one to look back- 
ward; indeed, it may appear that I of all others, now directing a 
work that has its future nearly all before it, can hardly be 
pardoned for asking a few moments of retrospection. Perhaps it 
may l)e unfortunate that we should stop for a moment to look 
backward, but in the operations of Geographical inquiry and 
endeavor, like all others, we should look upon both sides of the 
(juestion, and one of the lessons that may be draAvn, is, that it 
has been principally " measures and not men" that have governed 
tiie intervals during which expeditions have been dispatched into 
tlie unsettled and inaccessible })ortions of the far west. It seems 
proper to add, that the results of the Pacific R. R. surveys led to 
the construction and compilation of what were then the most 
accurate mai)S. Warren's Memoir, which foi-ms a part of the P. 
R. R. reports, fully sets forth an historical resume of this matter, 
and has been frequently consulted, and is the authority up to the 
spring of 1857. Although the topographical material had not 
been gathered for the precise ])urpose of making maps, yet I know 
that every one ])resent will admit its ])ertinence when I s:iy that the 
(4overnment and the public may well feel thankful to the wisdom 
of the minds that conceived the propriety of placing all this mate- 
rial in the form of a map whose uses have since entered into the 



education of the country. Subsequent to the close of the Pacific 
R. R. surveys and the resulting maps and reports thereon, ofiicers 
of the then Corps of Topographical Engineers ])rosecuted further 
surveys in this rogion, called for by the necessities for intorma- 
tion experienced l)y the War Dej^artnient bearing upon communi- 
cation and supply between interior remote points; tlieii 
number was comparatively tew, owino^ to the commencement ol 
what has since grown into a system of river and harbor improve- 
ments whereon officers of this corps were preferably placed. 
While many important expeditions were in progress, boundary 
surveys between thi United States and Great Britain on the one 
side and Mexico on the other, wei'e carried on. The names of 
Graham, Emory, and Parke are familiar in this connection. 

Notable among the later expeditions are the expedition of 
Warren to the Black Hills in the Northwest in 1855, '6-7 ; Macomb 
in 1859, outward from Santa Fe to the junction of the Grand 
and Green Rivers, and return; Simpson, with the army under 
Johnson, in Utah, to the eastern base of the Sierras, at Carson 
City, thereby shortening the principal wagon route to tlie Pacific, 
and perhaps others which in the hasty mention may have escaped 
attention. Their names and facts have been placed upon the 
record, and have ali'eady passed into history. 

I may be excused for calling attention to a portion of the ]*resi- 
dent's message sent forward to Congress during the past session 
relative to surveys, wherein the Chief of Engineers states in re- 
ferring to the resumption of labors upon interior topographical 
surveys by Maj. Long, the following appears : " And succeeding 
him, these were continued ))y officei-s of the Army whose names 
would furnisli along list of men distinguished in their profession." 
I recollect most vividly a statement made not long since by a 
prominent Senator from the West, while speaking of no less 
a personage than the late Senator Fessenden from Maine, that 
this distinguished statesman, although conversant with legisla- 
tion in its broadest sense, thoroughly informed as to govern- 
mental necessities, well versed in the manners, customs and 
wants of the people, still never seemed to comprehend that the 
United States had expanded beyond the Alleghanies, while at 
and beyond the extremities of arteries leading to the heart of 
this portion of the continent more than elsewhere the Govern- 
ment should extend its powerful protection. 

Subsequent to the war there have, also, been organized and 
carried out i;nder the Engineer Dejiartment of the army, the 
Geological Survey of the 40th Parallel, in cliarge of Clarence 
King, from the Department of the Interior, the United States 
Geological Survey of the Territori<'S under Prof Hayden ; the 
survev of the Valley of the Colorado under the Smithsonian In- 
stitution, in charge of Mr. Powell, — the latter was transferred at 



the past session of Congress to the Interior Department — also the 
expedition for the deraarkation of the northern boundary nnder the 
State Department, with Archibald Caiii])bell as Commissioner 
and Maj. Twining, Corps of Engineers, as chief astronomer; and at 
the headquarters of the several Geogrnpliical military divisions 
and departments officers of the Corps of Engineers have been en- 
gaged in reconnaissances and surveys of various kinds, but of 
their several characters and objects, I feel that it is not my mis- 
sion to speak. Their works are passing into history, and your 
distinguished President, Chief-Justice Daly, in his annual address, 
chronicles their current operations. 

DESORIPTIOX OF KXPEDITION OF 18/4. 

The system of opening a means of communication between 
points widely separated in the interior had become well advanced 
at the beginning of the rebellion, and it was found both judicious 
and economical to make expenditures of the public money for in- 
terior surveys, and certain imp)ovements and constructions grow- 
ing out of the same for the uses of the War Department, and 
in furtherance of industrial interests. And as has before been 
stated, officers of the corps of Topographical Engineers w^ere 
called upon to take a prominent part in this task. This corps 
during the interval of the war were merged with the corps of Engi- 
neers proper, and their duties assimilated thereunto. "What might 
have grown from this want on the part of the Government had 
not the war of the rebellion been prosecuted, let none of us 
imagine. Inasmuch as it has been a part of my task to look a lit- 
tle into what has been done as well as to project current and 
future operations, I may be pardoned for thinking to maintain 
that what lias l)een partially begun, and in a small degree 
carried out by myself and others of late years, might easily have 
become a thing of the ))ast, but for the intervention of the war. 

However, finding myself in the year 1869 a member of the staff 
of Brevet Major General E. O. C. Ord, then commanding the 
Department of California, and under his direction being sent to 
investigate certain practical subjects relating to interior commu- 
nication, for the first time in my experience as a public officer, it 
became my duty as it was my pleasure to examine topographi- 
cally portions ol the areas shown upon the progress map thrown 
upon the screen. After retui'ning from that trip, which was car- 
ried on at a small expense, and which attained nothing beyond 
the dignity of a reconnaissance, tliere grew into tangible foiTn 
evidence favorable to a continuance of Explorations and Surveys 
which it was then deemed proj^er to lay before the War Depart- 
ment. The trip of that year had its close, and its results were 
immediately ma<le available, but it was not until the spring of 



1871 that the War Department, by autliority of appropriations 
made at that session of Congress, saw fit to send ont in force an 
exi)edition complete enough to take cognizance of the binding to- 
gether, as it were, of the old routes of survey and compacting 
them into a whole, giving an oider and form based upon the phy- 
sical details of areas as contradistinguished to lines that singu- 
larly enough had never been attempted before. 

Returning from the field at the close of the expedition of 1871, 
the project of interior survey that I have hastily brought to your 
notice while exj^laining the " Progress Chart," was laid before 
General Humphreys, Chief of Engineers, and Genei-al Belknap, 
Secretary of War, and ap])roved by both. Their hearty su|>port 
has been since maintained, for a lack of which and tlie intelli- 
gent aid of a few far-seeing friends in Congress the expedition 
of 1874 would not have been sent out for the further prosecution 
of these labors. The expeditions of 1871, as well as those of 
1872-'3, took the field and returned, harmonizing their field and 
office results as far as could be, so that the mass of useful infor- 
mation might become immediately available to the War De- 
partment, thence to the othei- departments of the Government, 
and indirectly to the public. And it is with no little pride that 
I quote the following paragraph from the anmial report of the 
Chief of Engineers, submitted to the Secretary of War, and for- 
warded to Congress at its present session : 

" By experience and improvements in methods and instruments, 
the value of the results is annually enhanced and the co^t of the 
work amply repaid." 

But these matters interest but very few of you, and there- 
fore I shall at once come to a description of our trip during 
the past season, whicli has been directed to portions of the poli- 
tical divisions of Utah, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, and 
Arizona. The number of parties in the field have been 9, the 
number of officers and assistants 86, fewer than the usual number 
since our routes lay in regions not infested by hostile Indians, 
and hence no escorts were required. These have been distribu- 
ted into the several geographical fields of inquiry, including the 
cognate branches of scientific research, geology, paleontology, 
mineralogy, natural history, tfec. The force consisted of officers 
of the diflierent arms of the service, aided too by professional 
gentlemen drawn from civil life, since this, like all classes of 
interior works carried on by the War Department, have been 
partly military, partly civil, working always in harmony, as it 
has not been deemed essential to confine labors in so compre- 
hensive a field to one class of persons. 

The point of departure was Pueblo, Colorado, at the end of 
the little narrow gauge railroad that follows the eastern base of 
the Rocky Mountains, south I'rom Denver, and to which point 



8 

]>ersons, aniinuls and supplies could be easily forwarded. The 
detailed operations of the Survey, however, were to be to the 
southward of the Spanish Peaks, marked points noted by all early 
explorers, travellers and settlers throughout the region and lying 
for the greater part in New Mexico, while the basins of drainage 
entei'ed and occupied, were the Arkansas, Cimarron, Mora, Pecos, 
Rio Grande (its eastern, upper and western branches,) and the 
San Juan Rivers, all possessing a topographical grandeur each 
its own, yet each ditferent in its local physical peculiarities, each 
as large as one of our minimum States, with all due respect to 
Rhode Island and Delaware; the entire area being fully 35,000 
square miles, so large that we might almost (to speak figura- 
tively) pick u)i the whole State of New York, drop it into the 
same, with a prospect of total immersion. The points of prime 
Geographical necessity were those from which a series of base 
lines were measured from points, astronomically determined AVith 
the utmost accuracy, and located in vicinity of Hughes, Colorado 
Springs, Labran and Trinidad, Colorado ; Cimarron, Fort Union, 
Las Vegas, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, at which points bases 
measured and developed to check the main triangulation extend- 
ing throughout the mountain ranges were laid out. Three par- 
ties were engaged in the establishment of interior astronomical 
points and the prosecution of the main triangulation, and others 
in filling in from main topographical stations by other trigonomet- 
rical means and collecting the topographical details necessary for 
the obtainance of all the horizontal and vertical lines requisite for 
the map. It may be well here to explain that in this survey for 
mapping considerations alone, the engineer is compelled to apply 
three of the most prominent of the scientific branches in order to 
obtain satisfactory results; i.e., Astronomy, Geodesy and Topo- 
graphy, which go hand in hand, immediately allied with the hyp- 
sometrical determination of altitudes. This has been done with 
a degree of success not marked in the earlier stages of the work, 
but most gratifying to all who maintain an interest in it. Per- 
sons specially skilled in the forms of the present and extinct 
fauna and flora of this region have been aftbrded facilities to prose- 
cute their studies in connection with the movement of the field 
parties witli marked success. As, however, tliis work, founded 
upon the necessities of a l)e[)artment of the Government alone, 
can entertain but one standard, practically that of paying its way 
as it goes, the latter may not liave been brought to so full a stand- 
ard of excellence, as in parties which tlie Government has at times 
sent out to prosecute especially this class of examinations, yet in 
the humble way in which tliese matters have been brought to 
fruitful results it is believed tliat for the lunited time and means 
much has been added to the store of knowledge in these impor- 
tant branches of science, and to the individuals who have been 



responsible for, and who have acccmplished this work, most of 
the thanks are due, 

I will ask you to follow me while I describe rapidly the march 
of that part of one of the nine parties conducted by myself out 
from Pueblo to Paoosa Sprinos, in the valley of San Juan, and 
thence returning to the valley of the Arkansas. As no statement of 
mine will accommodate yourminds to the peculiar atmosphere and 
structure of mountain and other forms that meet the traveller 
in these regions, I will conhne myself to the simple line upon the 
map and ask you to trace with me the locus and windings of 
this route. 

The road from Pueblo to Fort Garland, on the eastern side of 
the Greenhorn Range, that faces outward toward the Arkansas 
valley, skirts the foot-hills of this magnificent series of ridges, that 
has lately attained a more ])ractical grandeur on account of im- 
portant mining interests that are being developed, notably in 
the Rosita silver district. New discoveries are also being made, 
and when one can look at a mountain range and imafrine that 
silver may come from that enormous structure, silver already 
found, or silver yet to be found, there grows an idea of enchant- 
ment that makes the traveller, the practical man or the mining 
operator stoop with awe upon beholding so colossal a treasure 
house in which is seen the basis of future economic wealth now 
lying hidden, and awaiting only the call of energetic labor to 
withdraw it for the uses of mankind. We started from Pueblo 
and traversed the base of this range during the month of August 
in the most delightful part of the season, and crossed the Sangre 
de Cristo Pass, (a fearful name, but the pass fully justifies it), 
until we entered the valley of the Rio Grande and the famous 
San Luis Park, so called, an immense detrital plain simply, park, 
it is not, valley it might be called from its physical shape. 

Reaching the little post of Fort Garland lying upon a strip of 
land between Sangre de Cristo and Ute creeks, we came to the 
border line, of Government civilization at least, for here we find 
the same located in a few adobe houses in which government 
property is stored, half in corral and half in dingy flat top huts, 
with apertures resembling loop-holes, although fashioned by 
nature. Here were stationed a fraction of the army so well 
sustained upon our frontier for the protection of civilization ad- 
vancing in face of many obstacles. 

Here we rested for a few days in camp on a little island 
beautifully ensconsed among the trees. An island because it was 
like an oasis, situated on a dusty plateau surrounded by a little 
stream of about two feet of water all from the Ute creek, or 
what is left of that stream after emerging from the foot hills. 
From this point dii'ectly across the wide valley of the Rio Grande 
we reached a number ot Mexican settlements on the western side 



10 

of the most southerly county of Colorado ; thence farther west- 
ward to the little settlement of Conejos. Without guides and 
without escorts, we passed from this point up the stream of the 
same name, changing soon our route to the northward and 
climbing a noticeable peak that from the valley below stood out 
boldly in the horizon, the view from which can only be compared 
to that of entering a paradise. 

One of the earliest points visited by us was named Pros- 
pect Peak, from which, looking eastward and north, is seen the 
great San Luis plain, and to tlie west the little valleys of the 
Conejos and its minor tributaries clothed with grass, presenting 
m^ost beautiful oscillations of color to the eye,while farther in the 
horizon lay long mesa lines heavily clothed with pines and decidii- 
ous foliage, all lending a calm repose to the landscape seldom 
witnessed. 

Within these tributaries we spent a portion of the season ; 
finally, after threading in and out. reach the sources of the eastern 
streams, and one stands upon the backbone of the continent, at 
a mountain summit rising majestically from the half plateau, half 
mesa forms, standing a proud and conspicuous monument, (d\;pli- 
cated nowhere, so far as I know), marking the powerful line 
of serrated ridges, which from the 49th to the 32d parallel divide 
the waters of the Pacific from those of the Atlantic. 

Here we encountered storms, with thunder and lightning, 
which after their exhibition of temper left a clear and radiant 
sky, lighting with magnificence the well developed flora of this 
region. Continuing vrestv>'ard, we followed with considerable 
difficulty a stream, which afterwards proved to be what will be 
named the eastern branch of the San Juan, to its junction with 
the main or upper fork, thence to the famous hot spiings at 
Pagosa. These were examined by parties under Col. Macomb, 
in 1858, who visited them while exploring for a wagon road, 
and have been described by Professor Newberry, geologist to 
that expedition, in a report that it is believed has never been 
published. This was a point for..rest and lendezvous, and the 
most westerly reached b^v myself. In a trip to Sierra Amarilla, 
in the valley of the Chama, the backbone of the country was 
again crossed, but, how dift'erent the grtmdenr of this latter 
crossing. Here the erosion of the horizontal strata leaves a 
poorly marked line from which waters flow cilher to the Atlantic 
or Pacific. Indeed, it is most difficult to determine the precise 
points of this line from which precipitated moisture would flow to 
the hither or yon side. 

Ketuniing from Pagosa, with a specially organized i)arty, 
the main head of the San Juan was i-eached, thence through 
flood, nmd, snow and forest we reached the westerly arm ot 
the Kio Grande, which nestles its perennial head within the 



11 

Southern line of the Uiicompaglire Mountains, grazing most 
marvellously the heads of the San Juan, about which occur a 
series of complicated folds for a distance of 80 miles. Thence 
flowing to the south, it comes to an area covered with quaternary- 
deposits in this portion of the Rio Grande basin. One little 
experience gathered wliile making this trip, although not 
altogether agreeable, may perhaps amuse if not interest you all: 
While camping near the summit of one of the many ridges skirt- 
ing the tributaries of the upper San Juan, at an altitude of 10,250 
feet, a heavy rain began just at dusk, and minus an epicurean's 
supper, with a wet bed, without forage for the mules, with numb 
fingers and dread of tlie night we were made the recipients 
suddenly of a succession of grand physical phenomena, which 
it has not been my fortune to witness before. Just at the small 
hours of the morning, while looking iip through the mantling 
cover of fir and aspen, could be seen glimpses of wavy clouds 
and the moon clearly shining, while the peculiar sliudderiug 
effect that comes from cold water drpping down one's back 
was experienced by your observer, although carefully ensconced 
in his blankets, and while simultaneously in another quadrant 
of the heavens a snowstorm of considerable vigor was actively 
going on. 

Indeed we had snow about four inches deep, or rather in the 
morning we had this. During this interval the grumbling fol- 
lowed by vivid and clear flashes of lightning afl:brded yet another 
species of )»yrotechnics on the part of the heavens, all creating 
an awe of the power of nature more impressive than all powers of 
description. One by one was heard the crack of trees, broken 
and demolished by the violence of the wind, driven at a fearful 
rate. You can well imagine how much this was enjoyed, how 
much we all slept ; but, fortunately for the alacrity which we 
desired in our homeward march, we found ourselves early on the 
road next morning. It is a matter worthy of scientific note, 
this peculiar relation between clouds, moonshine, clear sky and 
thunder, hail, snow, etc., which I believe has hardly ever been 
observed before. Marching steadily on in this portion of our sea- 
son's trip, we reach a point near the south fork of the Rio 
Grande, thence to its junction with the main stream, and to the 
little mining town of Del Norte, on the western side again of 
this great San Luis valley. Here another division of one of the 
small fractional part of the expedition took place — a portion with- 
drawing by stage communication leading to the Arkansas Valley. 
In the latter direction your observer travelled hence to Pueblo. 
The season's trip was short, but one full of varied incidents and 
of extended observation in the mountain portion of one out of 
the twelve extended trips taken by myself in the mountains 
of the west since the suuxmer of 1868. While a fragment 



12 

of the main party were returning under my direction, the 
remainder, under Lieut. Whipple of the Army, prosecuted their 
inquiries Avestward toward the mouth of the San Juan, another, 
under Lieut. Marshall, were in the upper and northerly parts of 
the San Juan basin, amonc; the mines lately discovered there, and 
succeeded in completino; the triangulation begun in 1 873, stretch- 
ing well-conditioned belts of triangles southward, thus connect- 
ing with the series established in New Mexico in 1873. This 
party have accomplished their season's work as have also the 
others, and returned to the ottice in Washington for the elabora- 
tion of results. 

Lieut, Birnie directed a party immediately south of the main 
division, debouching from the mountains eastward at Ciman-on, 
New Mexico, at the close of the season, having reached the 
western boundary of New Mexico, covering the area south to 
Abiqui in the valley of the Chama, and westward to include the 
main southern tributaries of the San Juan. 

Lieut. Price, with a special triangulation party, to which were 
added a mineralogist and collector, occupied portions still farther 
to the south, their southward latitudinal line being that through 
Las Vegas, New Mexico, and their eastern limit the ridge of the 
main range bordering upon the plains and dividing the valley 
of the Pecos from the Rio Grande. 

Lieut. Blunt and party were assigned to a portion east of the 
main ridge, and bounded, latitudinally. north and south, by Las 
Vegas and Trinidad, Col., east by 104° 7' 30" of bngitude. 

A special party for making collections in Natural History and 
certain hypsometrical determinations, followed aline leading from 
Santa Fe, via Fort Wingate, Camp Apache, New Camp Grant, 
Fort Bowie in Arizona, and returned via the same post except 
Winsjate, and including Forts Tulerosa and Craig, to Santa Fe. 
Their labors were crowned with most gratifying results at a 
minimum expense, and till in gaps in the Natural History areas, 
left vacant in other years, extending observations upon geogra- 
phical distribution, with new forms. 

Yet another party for special Natural History and Paleontolo- 
gical study, under Dr. Yarrow for the early part, and Prof. E. 
D, Cope for the latter part of the season, pursued their investi- 
gations in the valley of the Rio Grande, north of Santa Fi' and in 
portions of the southern San Juan basins, with most gratifying re- 
sults. Prof. Cope has already submitted descriptions of new 
vertebrate forms that have been published. 

A sul)stantial stone and brick observatory was established at 
Ogden in 1873 and was occupied as a connecting station; to it 
were sent signals from the main stations occupied by another 
party in New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska. In this connec- 
tion I beg leave to state that the Western Union and Atlantic and 



1^ 

t'acific Telegrapli Companies have as usual extended most literal 
aid to the longitudinal campaigns, without which efficient assis- 
tance the same degree of success could not have been obtained. 
It may not be amiss to note that in addition to the collection of 
toi^ograpliical data, knowledge regarding the resources of the 
areas traversed and surveyed is one of the objects of investiga- 
tion. As another and higher branch of the work, may be men- 
tioned the establishment astronomically of geograi)hical points 
at selected positions within the entire area, west of the 100th 
meridian. Many of these have been made available to the wants 
of the Survey in carrying out its mapping objects. At others 
, conspicuous and solid monuments of stone, with the meridian line 
passing through them, have been erected, establishing a line ac- 
curately marked available for the uses of Governmental, corpo- 
rate and private surveys, of practical advantage for all time to 
come, and the better understood the more known. Indeed I 
liave been informed, by the Surveyor Generals of Nevada 
and of Wyoming Territories, that they had been made use of 
in the determination of the annual change in variation of the 
magnetic needle, a matter ot great importance in fixing the loca- 
tion of the property of all settlers, thus acting as a safeguard 
against questions that may be raised in the future, as to the 
boundaries ot landed properties, for in the newer portions of 
the great west, unlike New England, there are few artificial 
boundaries marking the extent of estates agricultural or mineral, 
and the variation of the needle entering as an element into all 
land titles is subject to an unknow^n annual fluctuation. While 
to-day in portions of our western interior land may not be worth 
the goverimient minimum price, it may in the future be worth 
maximum sums. It is well then that these meridian lines are 
established at this early day, and future generations will be thank- 
ful for what has already been done were the good work to be at 
once suspended. 

While I can add but little of interest gathered by myself and 
individual members of the parties throughout the season, I will 
tell you that with but one casualty to be noticed, all have termi- 
nated their duties and reached the point of disbanding at Pueblo, 
and are now on their way, or have reached the office of the survey 
at Washington. To attempt at this time to lay before you any 
detailed features of the several branches of the work, as to their 
scientific or other values, would be exceedingly premature ; I will 
leave that for another time. I hope that you will only expect of 
me statements made in the most general terms, for I have not 
deemed it advisable to come before you on this occasion with a 
finished scientific paper, nor with the dry material such as often 
forms a part of many of the messages and documents to Con- 
gress, but hope that 1 will have proven to you that we are add- 



1i 

ing oilr rriite in the lino of geograpliical inquiry, and I beg to 
state that the time I can lake li'oin my strictly professional duties 
is extremely small. The region of country entered by the parties 
this year, presents physical pecxiliarities of marked characteristics; 
consisting of massive mountain forms, plateaux and rivers, and 
althougli it cannot be said of a large portion of the area, that the 
agriculturist has great attractions extended to him, yet with 
theadvancement of legitimate mining enterprises, there will grow 
up a demand for farming products, that will not be dependent 
on cheap transportation, and will enrich not as do the prairies, 
where sometimes corn has to be burned in the field, but with pro- 
ceeds from a ready and elastic market for all the productions of 
the soil. There are vast fields suitable for grazing purposes ready 
with their perennial and perpetual supply of nutritive grasses 
sufficient for numerous herds of cattle and sheep lying ready to 
provide beef for the nation. Beef for the nation when the U. S, 
numbers her one hundred millions, as well as we have to-day beef 
for the nation with its forty millions. 

This great supply, the capacity of which has been largely called 
into question during the past few years, attracts a growing atten- 
tion, and to the question where is to come beef for the millions 
of Americans yet unborn, I would answer, after a personal obser- 
vation of portions of 250,000 square miles of the western interior, 
" Go west" to the inland valleys, detrital plains and extensive 
plateaux, and there you will find provided through the handi- 
Avork of Nature m;iterial for the preparation of beef for these 
future millions, inexhaustible for several generations at least. 

I wish to call your attention to the condition of some of 
the prospectors, in S. W. Colorado, as noticed during the 
past season. In the different trips in the western mountain region, 
especially east of the Sierras, from Nevada to Arizona, that 
have been conducted by our parties we have met a large num- 
ber of these hardypioneers hunting for "gold and silver." Those 
who have wended their way into the remote sections of Colorado, 
unlike most of the prospectors, however, of the Nevada and 
Arizoiui regions, who disdain to labor except when they are out 
of " grub," and then are able to replenish the necessities of 
stomach and pocket in some flourishing mining district, we found 
many departing from the San Juan mining country, who had 
been flush in the early ])art of the chase, but now instead of one 
man to four donkeys (a magnificent outfit), four or five men were 
often seen behind one donkey, the latter carrying all the worldly 
gooils that these men possessed. Cases were presented where 
charity had occupation, and it was with extreme pleasure that 
on one we divided four-Hfths of what little food we had among a 
party of men, in order that they might no longer go hungry. 
it -is to be remarked, however, that the total four-fifths of our 



15 

store was not enough for one meal ; still we thought to have 
added to our record in the cause of suffering humanity. 

I would like to call the attention of the Society to the distribu- 
tion of forest areas as discovered and entered by parties of the 
survey. It will be recollected that upon the maps made at tlie 
-close of the Ives' expedition of 1857-'« there was jilaced the name 
of Black or San Francisco forest. Its extent in either direction 
was not laid down. However, our surveys go to show that this 
great forest is probably the largest south of the 40th parallel. It 
<ejctends from about the J07th to the 114th meridian west from 
Greenwich, of irregular width, varying from 30 to, say, 100 miles. 
It is a noble patch of forest, broken only here and there by 
localities which well might be called parks, not for the reason that 
the parka in Colorado are so named, but because their variations in 
landscape, have a semblance of cultivation. It is unlike the forests 
of Nortliern California, Oregon and Washington Territories, 
where red-wood of dense growth predominates, in being inter- 
spersed with little valleys, glades and mountain nooks. There are 
also areas bordering on the San Juan, and in parts of the territory 
of Colorado yet remaining as possessions of the Government so far 
scarcely touclied, and it is to be hoped they may forever remain 
untouched by the advance of settlement. And here I would 
remark that it would be well to institute investigations, looking 
to ascertaining what influence these areas of forest have upon the 
local amounts of precipitation within their immediate areas. 

It is stated in the Report of Humphreys and Abbott upon the 
Hydraulics of the Mississippi, that " The removal of forests on 
mountains will tend to increase the amount of rain by creatino- 
heated upward currents," thus leading to more frequent and 
violent floods and freshets in the basin of that river. Observa- 
tions have been made upon phenomena that bear upon this 
question, and the matured results will appear in the final reports. 
It has been frequently noted, that in the latter parts of each 
«unny day, from 3 to 6 in the afternoon, a collection of at first 
fleecy and then cumulus and afterward nimbus clouds concen- 
trating toward mountain peaks occurs, and a precipitation at 
the crests is noticeable while at lower levels, say if the moun- 
tains are 10,000 to 12,000 feet above the sea, at altitudes between 
€,000 and 7,000 feet there is usually no rainfall at all. The connec- 
tion between the intensity and direction of the electrical currents 
of the earth's crust, and the hygrometric relations of the atmos- 
phere in such instances is unquestionably intimate although at 
present not fully explained. The facts gathered in relation to 
water supply above and below the surface are many and afford 
satisfactory evidence regarding points at which artesian wells 
may be successfully sunk, and localities where by directing the 
tot;il aqueous precipitation in proper channels of irrigation arid 



16 

fields may be made arable. The data gathered in relation thereto 
will be augmented from year to year by more extended examina- 
tions. 

XATIOXAL ADVANTAGES OF THE SURVEY. 

I would endeavor to impress upon your minds the importance 
of these surveys in regard to their uses to the Government. In 
so doing I may have undertaken too much, since 1 am but an 
humble worker in a small fraction of this great field, yet if one 
sets forth the plan, wherefrom has grown to tlie War Depart- 
ment the economy promised in the early stages of this work, 
one might well be pardoned for venturing upon the yet untrod- 
den fields from which other portions of the Government might 
gather fruit. 

To say that the maps of the interior of this country are fraught 
with numerous errors, is to tell you nothing new. To tell you 
how these errors may be overcome and rectified were indeed a 
noble task, but he who accomplishes a remedy while remaining 
true to the economical interests of tlie Government, deserves and 
will receive credit at the hands of all. In the great domain at 
the west, in advance of settlement and of the acres thrown open 
to occupation by advancing civilization, the Government still 
possesses lands of which little is known, large ])arts of which 
no one representing the Government, except now and then a 
desultory scout, has ever traversed. Into these regions War 
Department explorations have been sent ; their practical value 
at the moment may not meet the wants of tlie settler or the 
operator, but it is necessary to the Government that the place, 
size and natural and other resources of these tracts should be fully 
understood, because of present and prospective operations 
through them, and because of their subsequent entry and sale 
to parlies desiring to avail themselves of the homestead right, &c. 

Into these remote, inaccessible and often dangerous regions,, 
parlies of the survey under my charge have entered, seeking to 
evolve practical results from the problems entrusted to them. 
And what are some of these practical problems ? it well may be 
asked. That from a purely governmental necessity these refer 
to a delineation of the surface and a description of the resources 
of the area surveyed, can be easily understood, while from a broad 
national standard grows the desirability of investigating further 
into scientific questions, solely, bearing upon the distribution of 
forms in Natural History and in a discussion of the structure of 
the earth's crust, from stratigraphical and other known rela- 
tions, and, perhaps, a practical application of the information 
gathered to the wants of man. 

The groat secret of solidity for a work of this nature must 
irrow however from the fact that the useful information arained,. 



17 

repays its cost, granting w liicli, upon this as a foundation may 
from time to time cluster the hibors of tlie scientist engaged 
in advancing inquiries in special fields beyond the present domain 
of knowledge, wresting from nature hidden truths, to formulate 
them into a "law," nevertheless the missio)i of the Kagineer 
remains the same, and in its simple way should apply all that is 
great and all that is small of formulated science to the practical 
objects had in view. 

Making maps of the interior, scientifically accurate throughout 
all their parts has not as an original proposition been attempted 
until late years. Our admirable organizations, the U. 8. Coast 
Survey, U. S. Lake Survey, and Kiver and Flarbor Surveys, an- 
swering special purposes, and the expeditions for exploration and 
survey, and more lately the Land Surveys have been the principal 
sources from whence have grown the authentic maps of the 
country, and little question has ever been raised as to the expend- 
itures made for carrying on these great works, but the utility of 
furthering extensive schemes of survey founded ujion a broader 
policy, of the great interior, west of the Mississippi, has re- 
peatedly received an apathetic hearing at the hands of Congress. 
The only method of securing a permanent position for a survey or- 
ganization, it seems to me, is to place it as a subject to the needs of 
a department of the Government fulfilling which it will reach 
])hases of economy to interior sectional interests and with it will 
grow a policy co-equal with the wants of the Govermnent, so set- 
tled and lasting as to bring to the support of enterprises under 
it in course of time many of the best educated minds of the coun- 
try, whether nulitary or civil. While writing my last annual re- 
port some of the uses and needs of these explorations and surveys 
to the War Department came into my mind and were recoided 
as follows : 

1st. The published maps, profiles, and compiled distances over 
present and future routes of communication and supply that look 
to a saving in cost of transportation of all materials and muni- 
tions of war and other supplies forwarded through the Quarter- 
master's Department of the Army. As a correct understanding 
of the topographical features of a country is necessary to all mil- 
itary opei'ations, either in times of war or peace, the necessity for 
the acquisition of this information in a systematic form at tiie 
War Department, and its dissemination through the different 
branches of the military service, becomes apparent. 

"id. The establishment of routes of communication necessary 
for the supply of interior posts. For an understanding of the 
above, the inter-lying country requires thorough examination. 

8d. Critical routes to be followed in the interchange of troops 
between distant stations when demanded. 



18 

4th. New and shorter routes for forwarding recruits to their 
companies and stations. 

5th. Routes tor scouts pursuing' liostile or untViendly Indians. 

6th. The selections of sites for new niilitary posts established 
in advarice of, or as safeguards to, civilization. 

7th. Routes for troops when called out for the protection of 
miners or settlers. 

8th. A knowledge of the resources of the country surround- 
ing the military establishments, and its capacity for furnishing 
sup]ilies. 

Dth. Routes of transit when troops are ordered to remote 
points in aid of the civil law. 

loth. A knowledge of the character and habits of the several 
Indian tribes, and tlieir disposition toward each other and toward 
settlers. 

The above are a few of the classes of examinations necessary 
and valuable to the several Bureaus of the War Department and 
to tiie commanders of troops in their pioneering into the un- 
occu])ied and comparatively inaccessible portions of the western 
interior. 

To obtain such information that should be at all times imme- 
diately available for the uses of the War Departm 'nt, such ob- 
servations as are necessary for an accurate deUneatio)) atid de- 
scription of the surface and resoitrcesqf the area surveyed wwxsi be 
made. This calls for geograp!iical surveys in their highest and 
broadest sense. 

Tne advantages to industrial interests growing from the ex- 
aminations made by a body of skilled men, mobile enough to be 
dispatched with little warning to any region west of the lOOtb 
meridian, no matter bow remote, and suthciently stable to suc- 
cessfully accomplish required objects, is not likely to be overesti- 
mated. That the Department, supervising their duties, requires 
immediate results is a guarantee to an activity that is advanced 
by a species of discipline, without which certain if not all fea- 
tures of an expedition might fail. The necessities of the army 
as protectors of and as a nucleus to advancing population in the 
west has so deeph' rooted itself in the popular mind of those 
sections as to render it unnecessary to dwell upon the benefits 
coming from the continuous exploration which forms no little 
part of its duty. It is believed that the standard of geographical 
work established in the past few years will, if energetically con- 
tinued, add an increasing amount of enthusiasm to emigration 
and to the legitimate establishment of the great industries, from 
the systematic information rapidly acquired and made as speedily 
as possible accessible to the public. "When we may reach a policy 
that surrounds with an entity of relations, the standard accepted 
jtfriihd^M^L then the economic problems of the routes traversed 



19 

and the areas occupied may one. by one be anticipated and prac ~" 
tical results evolved. Until finally from the application of the 
highest principles of Geodesy to the gathering of the simplest 
detailed facts, the surveys of our interior will be constantly ad- 
vanced until there shall be reared to Geography a proud monu- 
ment at whose base shall lie the mighty domain that is our in- 
heritance as a Government, the States and Territories of the 
United States of America. 



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